While new methods for treating skin cancer have been introduced over the last few years, Mohs micrographic surgery is widely viewed as the best method for treating an ever-growing variety of skin cancers.
Mohs surgery is accepted as the single most effective way to treat Basal and Squamous cell carcinomas. For many years, doctors were hesitant to use Mohs surgery for melanoma due to a fear that some of the microscopic melanoma cells could be missed and metastasize. The procedure has since been improved even further with the use of special stains that can highlight melanoma cells under the microscope. This makes melanoma easier to identify during the procedure, and more surgeons and dermatologists now choose this method to treat melanoma.
Amazingly, Mohs surgery has not changed much in the last fifty years. Before Mohs, standard surgical excision of tumors had a cure rate of about 90%. Mohs surgery, however, has a much higher cure rate of 98-99% for primary skin cancer and an amazing 96% cure rate for recurrences of cancer that were unsuccessfully treated with other methods.
The Mohs technique remains the most precise method for treating skin cancer, and it spares more healthy tissue than any other method. The goal of this procedure is completely removing the tumor while preserving as much healthy tissue as possible.
Mohs micrographic surgery is so beneficial due to its simplicity. It begins with a tissue sample that is examined by a dermatologist under a microscope to confirm the cancer diagnosis. Unlike other techniques, the Mohs method then involves examining all excised tissue by microscope during — not after — surgery. This eliminates estimating or guessing how far the excision should go, or how deep the skin cancer is.
A Mohs surgeon is able to remove all cancer cells while sparing healthy tissue by carefully removing one thin layer of tissue at a time. As each layer is excised, its margins are examined for cancer cells. When the margins are free of cancer, the surgery is concluded.
Despite the introduction of new skin cancer treatments, Mohs surgery remains the most effective means of treating melanoma as well as Basal and Squamous cell carcinomas. It has the highest cure rate and, by eliminating guesswork, it offers the best cosmetic and therapeutic results available today.